What Operating System/Computer will you be using next year?

Re: What Operating System/Computer will you be using next year?

They are giving summary results, and at the time of this posting
12/9/2005 6:00 PM, it seems to be a dead heat between Windows, Linux,
and Mac OS/X.

It's beginning to look like most users next year will be using a
COMBINATION of Windows and Linux. Tools like VMWare Player - with the
browser appliance are making it possible to add Linux functions to
Windows machines with minimial effort.

Linux is clearly making it MUCH easier to run Windows as the client.

The good news for Microsoft is that they will still be selling lots of
OEM licenses to vendors. The bad news is that OEMs will probably want
much more control over ad content. The OEMs are now aware that Linux
support is a feature that reduces price erosion. HP has taken the lead
- they aren't waiting for Microsoft to ship 64 bit Windows, they are
shipping AMD-64 machines and making sure that they can run Linux with
minimal installation effort - and everything works.

Novell/SuSE has figured out that it has a winner as well. Linux
revenues are up 400% year over year which means they are getting five
times more revenue from Linux this year than they were last year. Even
if they only continued a 20%/month growth rate for the next 24 months,
Novell would be selling over $1 billion in Linux revenues.

Ubuntu has also became a remarkable player in the desktop market.
Their "LiveCD" solution lets you run Linux without having to hack up
the hard drive. At the same time, it provides the tools to install
Linux as the main operating system and still be able to run Windows as
a "Client" under VMware, or Xen.

More and more ISVs are testing their applications on WINE, to make sure
that Linux users can install and run applications like Lotus Notes, and
Quicken under WINE/Crossover. Not only did Linux make a better Unix
than Unix, but they have also cooked up a better Windows than Windows.

Mac is also no surprise. The big challenge for apple is maintianing
competitive innovations and pricing. OS/X is great, but it's still a
single-vendor solution. Ironically, one of the advantages Windows had
over the years is support from nearly all of the major OEMs. Linux is
beginning to enjoy this same support because nobody is being excluded.

Windows 30%
Linux 30% - both Windows and Linux on the same boxes.
Mac 30%

Re: What Operating System/Computer will you be using next year?

r.e.ballard@usa.net wrote:
> They are giving summary results, and at the time of this posting
> 12/9/2005 6:00 PM, it seems to be a dead heat between Windows, Linux,
> and Mac OS/X.
>
> It's beginning to look like most users next year will be using a
> COMBINATION of Windows and Linux. Tools like VMWare Player - with the
> browser appliance are making it possible to add Linux functions to
> Windows machines with minimial effort.

There's no way I'm going to believe 60% of computer users are
abandoning Windows next year.

It looks to me like the survey is skewed due to flooding by Mac and
Linux advocates.

Re: What Operating System/Computer will you be using next year?

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On 2005-12-14, Edwin spake thusly:
>
> r.e.ballard@usa.net wrote:
>> They are giving summary results, and at the time of this posting
>> 12/9/2005 6:00 PM, it seems to be a dead heat between Windows, Linux,
>> and Mac OS/X.
>>
>> It's beginning to look like most users next year will be using a
>> COMBINATION of Windows and Linux. Tools like VMWare Player - with the
>> browser appliance are making it possible to add Linux functions to
>> Windows machines with minimial effort.
>
> [snip]
>
>> Windows 30%
>> Linux 30% - both Windows and Linux on the same boxes.
>> Mac 30%
>
> There's no way I'm going to believe 60% of computer users are
> abandoning Windows next year.
>
> It looks to me like the survey is skewed due to flooding by Mac and
> Linux advocates.

Hi Edwin

The numbers don't suprise me, as they very well may reflect the growing
numbers of people who are dual booting; for instance, many linux users
also have a partition with windows installed because it's what their
employer or school uses. Dual booting an OS gives the user the choice
of which operating system they want to use at startup, but it can also
produce some interesting stats. I have two Macs, an eMac and a Powerbook
G4, and I have used virtual pc to run windows, and Linux on the same Mac.
It was a wierd feeling to install linux on a virtual machine that thought
it was windows, on top of OSX :-) With the new Intel based Macs, I expect
that this kind of multiple OS option will become more widespread, as it
allows a greater freedom of choice.